Dime La VerDAD: Verify, Debunk, and Disseminate
University of Chicago
Summary
Dime la Verdad (Tell me the truth) will evaluate the use of storytelling by community health workers as a communication strategy to disseminate reliable health information on social media and encourage informed decision-making in favor of recommended immunizations in communities with high morbidity and mortality due to respiratory virus infections. Dime La Verdad is an innovative social media capacity-building program based on theoretical frameworks related to health communication that empowers community health workers to disseminate reliable information about respiratory virus protection strategies through the use of personal narratives on social media. The proposed work will use a rigorous stepped wedge design to 1) deliver a scalable program of science communicators using an adapted curriculum grounded in principles of health communication, 2) evaluate how diffusion of health messaging is perceived on social media, and 3) discern how use of personal narratives to enhance science communication can encourage informed decision-making to promote evidence-based immunization practices and improve health outcomes.
Description
Public understanding of respiratory virus transmission and prevention is shaped by a wide range of information sources, including social media. As social media platforms play an increasingly central role in shaping health communication, it is critically important to define best practices to disseminate reliable information online. This is especially important when considering the lives of susceptible groups who may not have easy access to culturally relevant and language-concordant reputable sources. Although access to health care remains a significant barrier, access to reliable health messag…